Another late, great show by Worcester Sharks

Sunday

Dec 30, 2012 at 6:00 AM

They are very much alive in the battle for first place in the AHL's Atlantic Division. Still, it's fair to call them the late Worcester Sharks. It was another one-goal game, another two points, another late comeback victory for the Sharks here at the DCU Center Saturday night as they beat the Providence Bruins, 3-2.

By Bill Ballou TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

They are very much alive in the battle for first place in the AHL's Atlantic Division. Still, it's fair to call them the late Worcester Sharks.

It was another one-goal game, another two points, another late comeback victory for the Sharks here at the DCU Center Saturday night as they beat the Providence Bruins, 3-2. Again, the winning goal came in the game's final five minutes.

This time it belonged to Brandon Mashinter, who poked home a rebound during a pig pile near the Bruins' crease at 16:23 of the third period.

“I just kept jamming away at it,” Mashinter said, “and it finally just popped over his arm. I've finally gotten the gorilla off my back. Next, it's the monkey.”

It was Mashinter's second goal of the season, both coming against the Bruins. It snapped a 14-game goal drought for him.

Brodie Reid and Sebastian Stalberg had the other Worcester goals, while Chris Bourque and Justin Florek scored for the Bruins. Al Stalock was great in net for the Sharks, stopping 30 shots. The win was his 11th of the season and the 70th of his career.

Stalock joins Thomas Greiss (74) as the only goaltenders in Worcester hockey history with 70 or more wins.

“It's like we say to ourselves, hey, we've been here before. We can handle this. It's a mindset,” coach Roy Sommer said of his team's late-game success.

The victory allowed the Sharks to move ahead of Providence into second place in the Atlantic Division. Worcester trails Portland by one point.

Saturday night's victory was the first this season by a home team in the series. The Sharks and Bruins have played six times, with Worcester earning 11 of a possible 12 points.

Bourque, who had two goals in his first 25 games, put Providence ahead in the first period with his fifth in four games, three coming against Worcester. It wasn't a power-play strike, but felt like one.

The Sharks were called for penalties at 15:11 and 16:05 — James Sheppard for hooking and Matt Irwin for tripping — and did a fine job killing both the 1:06 two-man disadvantage and the rest of Irwin's penalty.

However, five seconds after Irwin's penalty ended, Bourque scored, following up a rebound of his own shot from the slot at 18:10.

It looked like Providence would carry its 1-0 advantage into the second period, but Stalberg converted a Bruins turnover into a goal at 19:41. Stalberg collected a loose puck in the left circle and his 30-foot wrist shot went over goalie Michael Hutchinson's right shoulder.

It was Stalberg's first goal in 10 games, his first point in seven games.

Providence got the go-ahead goal at 7:55 with Florek scoring his third of the season and second versus Worcester.

The Sharks were extremely lax on a puck exchange in their own end, eventually giving it away, and it wound up on Craig Cunningham's stick at the point. His initial shot was stopped by Stalock, but Florek was there for an easy rebound.

Then, with 24 seconds left in the period, Reid got the puck deep in the right corner and snapped it at Hutchinson from an impossible angle — except that it wound up in the back of the net, and it was 2-2 after two.

“It was a combination shot and pass,” Reid said. “Actually, I heard (Jon Matsumoto) going to the net and calling for it, and it was almost the end of the period, so why not give it a try?”